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Julian Fellowes‘s The Gilded Age is positioned to be one of the crown jewels of HBO Max’s originals library. Created by the genius behind Downton Abbey and Gosford Park, The Gilded Age is a ten-part series set — you guessed it — during the Gilded Age, a time of huge excess and tremendous wealth disparity at the end of the 19th century. The series has been in development for a long time, and was once pitched as a sort of “Downton Abbey prequel” focused on the youths of Lord and Lady Grantham, but now it’s finally happening. Not only did Fellowes give his own update on the project after the panel for his latest show, Belgravia, at Winter 2020 TCA, but Decider learned from one of The Gilded Age‘s stars that the show starts shooting in less than two months.
During TCA, Decider spoke with The Gilded Age star Morgan Spector about his upcoming HBO miniseries, The Plot Against America, and when we asked Spector if the HBO Max series was in production, he said, “No, we start on March 16th, the same day [HBO’s The Plot Against America] comes out. Weirdly propitious day.”
According to Deadline, Fellowes himself revealed at TCA that the new 10-part series about life in 1885 New York City was in “reasonably good shape.” Newcomer (and Meryl Streep’s youngest daughter) Louisa Jacobson has been cast as Marion Brook, the poor orphaned daughter of a Southern general whose life changes when she moves in with her “rigidly conventional aunts.” Christine Baranski will play one of the aunts, the fabulous aristocrat Agnes van Rhijn, while Cynthia Nixon will play Ada Brook, the poorer of the two. Tony nominee Denée Benton is also set to star as Peggy Scott, a Black woman posing as Marion’s maid. Together, Marion and Peggy are going to find themselves thrust into the glittering world of New York City’s Gilded Age, where robber barons and industry titans created a new culture of vast wealth in a time of great struggle and poverty for most of the United States.
Amanda Peet and Morgan Spector will co-star in the series as society couple George and Bertha Russell. Decider found out on the ground at Winter 2020 TCA that Peet and Spector aren’t just thrilled to be joining the projects, but over the moon about working with each other.
Spector told Decider, “I’m playing a 19th century robber baron-type so it’s going to be fantastic, and the scripts are great. I’m playing Amanda Peet’s husband and I have just loved her work forever and she’s brilliant. So I’m just really excited to get to play with her.”
When Decider asked Peet about the project after a panel for IFC’s Brockmire, Peet said, “I’m a huge Morgan Spector fan. I’ve seen him in so many plays, and on his show, Pearson.”
In addition to her love of Suits spin-off, Pearson, Peet also shared that she’s a big Downton Abbey fan. “Well, I loved Downton Abbey, so it’s obviously a huge honor to work for Sir Julian Fellowes,” Peet said, “And I think it is a great time to have a show about the Gilded Age. So I’m excited.”
Spector also teased that the look of The Gilded Age might even go beyond the opulence on display on PBS’s Downton Abbey. “Yeah, the drawings that I’ve seen… It is f*cking bananas. It’s going to be great,” Spector said with a laugh.
